Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Mango Elephants in the Sun by Susana Herrera - Available

Mango Elephants in the Sun

How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin

by Susana Herrera
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
When the Peace Corps sends Susana Herrera to teach English in northern Cameroon, she yearns to embrace her adopted village and its people, to drink deep from the spirit of Mother Africa—and to forget a bitter childhood and painful past. To the villagers, however, she’s a rich American tourist, a nasara (white person) who has never known pain or want. They stare at her in silence. The children giggle and run away. At first her only confidant is a miraculously communicative lizard.
Susana fights back with every ounce of heart and humor she possesses, and slowly begins to make a difference. She ventures out to the village well and learns to carry water on her head. In a classroom crowded to suffocation she finds a way to discipline her students without resorting to the beatings they are used to. She makes ice cream in the scorching heat, and learns how to plant millet and kill chickens. She laughs with the villagers, cries with them, works and prays with them, heals and is helped by them.
Village life is hard but magical. Poverty is rampant—yet people sing and share what little they have. The termites that chew up her bed like morning cereal are fried and eaten in their turn ("bite-sized and crunchy like Doritos"). Nobody knows what tomorrow may bring, but even the morning greetings impart a purer sense of being in the moment. Gradually, Susana and the village become part of each other. They will never be the same again.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 8, 2000

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780834800038
      • File size: 1067 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780834800038
      • File size: 1067 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    Loading
    Loading

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading